There are some extreme movies available on the market today. Movies which you won’t find on the shelves at your local Virgin Megastore or HMV, but from various specialist websites or stores due to their shocking subject matter and usually very high gore content. Although these films are horrific in the true sense of the word, should they be classified as horror movies, or something different?

Obviously, these films were not created for the average film fan who also likes Elm Street and the Halloween movies, or even the dedicated follower of all mainstream horror come to that, as these take a special resilience to watch. Chances are if you have not heard of any of these movies, then they will not be to your taste.

So who watches them then? Gorehounds for sure, the horror-curious, perhaps those interested in extreme cinema, celluloid thrill-seekers and anyone wanting to witness the lengths a filmmaker will go to in order to create hype surrounding a low/no-budget horror flick that will never, ever get a serious release. Which, given the nature of these types of productions, is actually quite a large audience.

Ultimately, the following list of films deserves a new sub-genre all to themselves as I don’t believe that they are true horror. They don’t frighten the viewer, instead they repulse or sicken, but some do it with artistic intent, others only with the intention to shock. It would be tempting to load them all under the wonderful phrase that came about with the release of Eli Roth’s Hostel (the watered-down, mainstream face of these sorts of films), that of ‘gorenography’. But that implies there is no other point except indulgence in violence, which is not always the case.

No, for the purposes of this list of extreme films we shall say that they are ‘underground’ independent horror movies. If you consider yourself to be easily shocked or offended, then treat the following list as one ‘for information only’!

Aftermath
Probably the simplest movie to find that made it on the list (thanks to a comprehensive DVD release from Unearthed), this is also the movie that takes extreme subject matter and portrays it in an artistic way, with the film at least having some merit at the end. Although only a 20 minute or so short film, Aftermath will stay with you for many years after viewing. Set in a morgue, it charts the antics of a mortician who is a little more caring of the corpses than he needs to be. Powerful and shocking, director Nacho Cerda beautifully films the morticians atrocities, with the style backed up by a frankly terrifying soundtrack.

August Underground
You may have seen conversations concerning this movie on Internet forums, perhaps caught the trailer on Toe Tag Pictures MySpace page or even seen copies fetch big money on eBay, but nothing can prepare you for the movie itself. Confused, shakily filmed and complete with a poor soundtrack, August Underground deserves to be found on a VHS tape by the roadside, making the onscreen exploits of a serial killer seem all the more real than they do already. Violent, sickening and gory beyond expectation, it deserves it notoriety.

August Underground’s Mordum
Take August Underground and amplify the shock factor by ten, insert worrying director Fred Vogul again and make the story even more confused than its predecessor and you get Mordum; a movie sure to separate viewers and be debated over for many years to come. This time we follow two crazy killers who bring along an initiated buddy for kicks. Imagine an astounding level of violence, gore, sex and shocks, double it and you may come close to this movie. May take two or three goes before you get all the way through.

Slaughtered Vomit Dolls
This, in the oft-used words of a certain TV advert, does exactly what it says on the tin. If you idea of a great 70 minutes is watching the tribulations of a bulimic prostitute heaving then this is the film for you. Not the high-art it thinks it is, no dialogue to mention and no camera flourishes to elevate it to nicely filmed junk, this is just some gore, sex and vomit directed by a guy (presumably) who calls himself Lucifer Valentine. Please refer back to the earlier statement concerning hype and no-budget movies.
Subconscious Cruelty
Hard to track down and probably not worth it when you have, Subconscious Cruelty is arty and more than occasionally ‘farty’ too. A huge amount of nudity and gore, plus some very challenging religious sequences, this is another movie that will provoke discussion. Don’t think that this will revolve around it being a good film or not, just what it sets out to achieve. Is it art? Is it a shock picture? Is it just pretentious filmmaking wrapped up in a bloody package of naked people? Who knows!

Akai Misshitsu (heya)
Well, it was a case of which one to pick from the sickening line up of Japanese ‘filmmaker’ Daisuke Yamanouchi. This movie was also known as Red Room and covers the fates of four people trapped inside a room where they are all subjected to various tortures and humiliations. Daisuke is also responsible for the vile Mu Zan E, Girls Hell and Red Room 2, all of which are very extreme entries into the Japanese ‘pink’ film genre.

Omissions:
On the edge of being worthy of inclusion of this list are various Asian examples such as Men Behind the Sun and the Guinea Pig series, the German ‘art’ movie Nekromantic and its sequel and Italian exploitation shockers Cannibal Holocaust and Emanuelle in America. Nick Palumbo’s Nutbag and Murder-Set-Pieces also failed to make the cut by being officially rated R. These were not deemed appropriate due to their relatively large release schedules and ease of purchase today. If a film is to be truly ‘underground’, you are going to have to work to find it!